Find the Fire: Ignite Your Inspiration and Make Work Exciting Again

An unbelievably entertaining read

This is a fabulous book for when you get the “blahs!” You know what I’m talking about … those times when you just cannot get out of your own way … when everything you try to do gets stuck in park and you just can’t understand how you ever got anything done in the first place.

This is one of those books you should keep in a glass case with a sign that says, “When you get stuck in a rut, break glass and read book.”

The author, Scott Mautz, has filled each chapter with tips and tools on how to handle the “anti-muses” that show up and put out your spark on initiative. You know the ones: fear, boredom, inundation, loss of control, swindling self-belief, disconnectedness, dearth of creating, insignificance and lack of evocation. I can feel the spark of my initiative to even finish this book recommendation just listing them.

But have no fear, Mautz deftly shows how to handle each one of these spirit suckers by demonstrating techniques to chase them away and move on to more inspiring venues. For handling fear he gives real-life examples of great men like Michael Jordan and Walt Disney who failed miserably only to use that failure as a true inspiration to become stronger and get on the road to success.

For inundation, which is really another form of procrastination, he shows how to break away from all the causes of putting things off and pays particular attention to the ever dangerous tendency toward counterproductive perfectionism.

And when we are overwhelmed by loss of control, he demonstrates how to regain that control with a few simple tactics to face your challenges, such as thriving on feedback, good or bad, and that all important one we all should master embracing — change.

The one thing we all should remember is that inspiration is not automatic. None of us has the time or the luxury of sitting around waiting for our muse to show up and inspiration to strike. Instead, we have to turn to techniques like the ones outlined in this important book to get our juices flowing again.

The next time you find yourself needing a good swift kick of inspiration, this is the book to break into.

The next time someone starts taking control of your life, run, don’t walk to the shelf where you keep this book and crack it open.

Whatever you do, make sure you do it with Mautz’s new book “Find the Fire.”

Dan Beaulieu is the president and founder of D.B. Management, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in all aspects of sales, marketing and branding with a focus on rep-principal relationships. His latest book is The PCB 101 Handbook which can be purchased online by emailing danbbeaulieu@aol.com. Dan is also the author of “It’s Only Common Sense,” a weekly sales column appearing at pcb007.com. Dan can be reached at 207-649-0879.